Back In Time
by WhisperedSilver
Summary: Will is sent back in time and tries to solve all his problems at once-getting Sean out of Hibernia, disbanding the Tualaghi, allying every country known with Araluen, and oh, yeah-Morgarath. His friends are the same, but different. It's a hard road.
1. Chapter 1

Back In Time

Will woke up staring at a wooden ceiling. He blinked. The arches here were all wrong…Halt's cabin didn't _have_ arches in the ceiling. He sat up and looked around only to gape in shock at the two forms lying on beds beside him…Horace and George?

Will threw the covers off him and looked down at himself, then at the other boys. They all looked about…fifteen years old? Will choked. He was back in the Ward! He examined the clothes they had gone to sleep in and then looked at where everything was positioned in the room. The dressers, the beds, the doors, the window…

…there was no denying it. He had gone back in time to Choosing Day. He'd been so nervous the first time around. He'd remembered every detail. He peered out the window and was pleased to note that the sun was just rising. He had no idea how his sleeping patterns hadn't been altered, but he was glad for it. There would be enough time to get ready before Horace woke.

Will winced at his last thought. He wasn't comfortable with his friend being a rude bully again. He dressed himself in a brown tunic and put on a belt, then crept downstairs to grab a few things.

He hadn't been happy when he realized there was probably no way to get him back to his own time. This time would be much different.

* * *

><p>Will grinned when the rest of his Wardmates came down the stairs.<p>

"You're up early today, Will," commented Alyss, who was smiling back at him. "Are you excited for Choosing Day as well?"

"He'll never be a knight," cut in Horace before Will could answer, "He's too small and scrawny and weak." He sneered over the breakfast table, where he had sat down across from Will.

"Horace-" frowned Jenny, but Will shook his head, still smiling.

"I don't intend to go to Battleschool," he revealed. When the girls began to protest at him giving up his passion just because of Horace's teasing, Will held up a hand for silence and continued, "I'm planning to go to Hibernia for a bit. Clonmel, actually. I've got a friend there I need to visit. Can't break a promise, can I?"

Halt, who was hidden in the shadows, felt his eyebrows shoot up.

"Will," began Alyss sharply, "You cannot go to Hibernia! You'll die! How would you even get there? And you haven't been corresponding with a Hibernian, one of us would have noticed-"

"P-Please," came a shaky, stuttering voice. "L-Leave him b–b-be."

"Thank you, George," said Will, who had dropped the grin and was now giving the other boy a kind smile. "I should like to leave before the Choosing, but it's too late now. When I don't get chosen, I'll leave. But don't worry, I'll make sure they remember me."

Halt didn't like the sound of this. He was considering Will for an apprentice, and he certainly didn't want him in Clonmel, near Ferris. He'd promised Daniel that's he'd protect Will.

"Will, what do you mean?" demanded Jenny, but at that moment a messenger came in to announce it was time for the Choosing. Will let out an unearthly cackle.

"It's time!" he cheered. The others exchanged looks of surprise. Horace had been stunned silent earlier for over fifteen minutes.

One by one, they all filed out.

* * *

><p>Anthony looked over the children. "Very well," he began, "Please-" his voice died at the sight of the short brown-haired boy sitting down. Earlier the fifteen-year-old had skipped in, but the Chamberlain had dismissed that. "Why are you sitting?" he inquired of the youth.<p>

"Well," said Will, "No one ever told me we had to stand. And sitting down is ever so much more fun than standing."

Anthony inwardly gaped. "Very well," he repeated, wanting to get this over with, "Now please-" he sighed. The short one at the end of the line appeared to be doing something with a needle and a bucket of soap and water. "What is that?" he asked, annoyed.

"I'm blowing bubbles, sir," said Will cheerfully. "You see, I've bent this needle so it's like a _P_, and I just dip it in this bucket here and bubbles come out!" He demonstrated, and everyone watched in surprise as a stream of bubbles appeared. "And, well, no one told us we couldn't blow bubbles either. You can go on with your Choosing."

The only thing Anthony had to sat about that was…well, nothing.

And so the shocked man had continued, with the large room being filled with tons of tiny bubbles. Will's creativity and tendency to go around the rules had impressed the Craftmasters (even though they'd want him to follow protocol later). Halt sensed that he might have competition.

"Name?" asked Anthony after everyone had gotten into height order (Will being on the end already).

"Horace Altman," replied Horace, "for Battleschool."

"WHOO-HOO!" Will cheered loudly from his seated position. "GO GET 'EM, HORACE!" He whispered loudly to Jenny, who was standing next to and above him, "He is _so_ going to get in, right?" He nodded to himself without waiting for an answer, bobbing his head up and down. Then he realized Rodney had yet to give and answer.

"So?" asked Will. When no one answered, he slapped his hand to his face. "Is Horace in or not?"

"Well," said Rodney, pleased at Will's support for his friend, "He's got the right build, and you seem to think he's capable, so-"

"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA," bellowed Will, suddenly standing up and pushing his hands out in a "stop" gesture, "'He's got the right build'? What is he, a horse you want to buy?" Will shook his head. "Well, you've lost your chance! By insulting my friend, you've declared yourself ineligible of his services for the moment-"

"Will," growled Horace, "Stop messing up my Choosing!"

"I'll take him," said Sir Rodney quickly, and Horace ran over to him, throwing a glare at Will once he got there. Will just shrugged and sat down.

Lady Pauline announced that she had already decided to take Alyss as her assistant. Will groaned, "BUT THEN WHAT'S THE POINT? What's the point of coming to Choosing Day if you've already been chosen?" Will threw his hands up in exasperation and sat down again.

"Will," said Baron Arald, "I appreciate your tendency to inject your opinion frequently into the Ceremony, but-"

"NO SIR," bellowed Will, who was on his feet again and now walking straight up to the Baron. He stopped about a few feet away and stated, "I have a right to voice my opinion. If Sir Rodney wants Horace as a student, he needs to show some respect or he's not getting him. He's really good…or he will be, at least," he added hastily. "And if Alyss has already been chosen, why go through all this rigmarole and have her come to Choosing Day? She could have just told us, or they could have waited for the Choosing to choose. No offense," he said to Lady Pauline, and she nodded and gestured for him to continue.

"What I'm saying is, I care about my Wardmates, and I don't want them in some place that they won't get the respect they're entitled to or some place who can't even wait to snatch them up, and then decides to rub it in that they already got it done to the other Craftmasters by pointlessly bringing them to a place where they were supposed to have done the thing that was already done no offense," his sentences ran together as he hastily stuck the two words in. Lady Pauline responded as she had the first time. "And so, erm, sir," he remembered to say, "That's why I feel the need to comment every now and then. Um, thanks."

With that, he walked back to his bucket of water and sat down. The Craftmasters were extremely impressed. He had shown up the Baron (not that anyone would ever put it like _that_), Rodney, _and_ Lady Pauline while still being respectful. And he had done it with tact (albeit the "erm" and "um"). Halt suppressed a groan as he saw everyone except Anthony focus his or her attention on Will. _He's mine,_ he thought. _Mine_. He wondered how Will had changed so much over just a night's sleep. He was suspicious.

The Scribemaster was very careful not to seem like he was appraising George, but Will kept his eyes trained on him anyway. Finally, the boy was accepted. But when Master Chubb inquired why Jenny thought her cooking ability was good enough for him, forgetting about Will for a second, the brown-haired boy jumped back into action. He was standing up AGAIN.

"Again with the insults, sir!" complained Will to the Baron. "Jenny is the best cook I know, not including the Master himself! And I wouldn't give her credit if she wasn't; if she was bloody horrible, I'd say she was bloody horrible!" He stopped, "I apologize for my language, sir," but everyone could see he was still mad. "You know, it isn't just the Craftmaster who chooses the student. The student has to choose the Craftmaster _first_. Isn't that right, sir?" he asked Anthony, and the man nodded, staying silent. He wanted to see what else Will would say.

"Jenny," Will said, turning to his friend, "Will you take Master Chubb as a Craftmaster?" Jenny nodded firmly.

"Yes, Will. I'm sure."

"Very well then," muttered Will, turning to the chef, "You can have Jenny. She's being nice and allowing you to train her. And if you even think about cracking me on the head with a ladle, remember I have a bucket of soapy water, sir." He promptly began to bounce up and down. "I'm getting tired of sitting down and standing. Jumping is more fun." And no one answered.

At Chubb's nod, Jenny left Will's side to stand next to him. "Name?" asked Anthony blandly to Will. There was no point, but the Chamberlain stuck to procedure.

"Will Trea-" Will began, and then stopped himself. "Will No-Na-" he started again, then huffed. Horace's nickname had really stuck, he realized. Just being back in this situation was causing memories to be called up. "Just Will," finished Will, "I don't know what my last name is."

Halt whispered a question into Baron Arald's ear. He wanted to see how Will would react to a Ranger saying something secret about him. The boy seemed unperturbed, but he fixed Halt with a speculative stare.

Arald minutely shrugged at Halt and asked Will, "What was that first intro name?"

"Treaty, Will Treaty," replied Will hastily so he wouldn't choke up, keeping his features composed. "It's something a friend used to call me." He felt a pang in his heart for Halt-_his_ Halt, not this one from fifteen years ago.

"And the second one?"

"Will No-Name," sighed Will. "Just some teasing. It stopped." Halt doubted that-Will wouldn't have accidentally called himself that if it hadn't been going on for a while.

"Your preferred Craft?" asked Anthony after Arald was satisfied that Halt had been appeased.

"Well," Will grinned, "I had originally planned on going to Battleschool." He ignored the fact that the Craftmasters were hanging onto his every word. He stopped bouncing. "But now I don't really care," he admitted. "I'm too small for Battleschool, have messy penmanship, and can only cook coffee and rabbit stew." Halt grew more interested at the last part.

"Alyss is a bloody good speaker-sorry about the language again, sir-and diplomacy is too civil most of the time for me. I'd just be in her way." He smiled at the blonde girl, and she smiled back happily. "I'm too small again for both Horseschool and the Smiths. And so there's basically nothing."

The Craftmasters were disgruntled. Will had turned down all of them, except for Halt! The Ranger was inwardly cackling with glee. "I will have you," he said quietly.

There was silence.

Will began to laugh. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he gasped out between laughs. "By Gorlog's bloody, scruffy beard! Whew," he wiped away a tear. "Sorry, but I just never thought _the Great Halt_, the eight-foot-tall Ranger who kills bears with his bare hands, would be asking me, _poor little Will No-Name_ who would _never_ get anywhere for a bloody apprenticeship! An-an apprenticeship!" Will suddenly broke down laughing and crying at the same time. Everyone else looked on in alarm.

The young boy looked up with a tearstained face. "I'm sorry, sir. I would like to be a Ranger." Halt brightened at this, but was concealed by his cloak. But his face fell as Will continued, "But I can't, sir, I can't. Not with all you've already done for me. I would be taking too much. Thank you for protecting me, sir." He noticed the words were spilling out of his mouth unnaturally fast. "You've gotten me to Redmont, and I've grown. Not much, but still. Please, forgive yourself." He sobbed, "Daniel would!" He ran out the large doors.

And once more, there was silence.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews! I was originally planning to have Will IC, but I kept typing and things kind of spiraled out of control. Hehe. I was happy to get feedback and hope you like this new chapter!**

**I couldn't remember if the Choosing was in the castle or not. Sorry. And eveytime I said "Anthony", I meant "Martin", and he wasn't a chamberlain and yadda yadda yadda and this is an AU. Lol, sorry.**

* * *

><p><span>Back In Time<span>

Chapter Two

Will slipped into the shadows of Castle Redmont, which were nice and elongated. He was glad it was still morning. Not only would it be easier to get away, but also he would have enough time to plan what he was going to do next.

Giving that flat-out denial to Halt had been harder than he'd thought it would be. He knew he'd shocked the older man with his spontaneous breakout of tears and the words that had rolled off his tongue, so hopefully he would get a little more time.

Will moved as quickly as he could, but he had to be careful to stay in the tree and cloud shadows. He backtracked a couple of times, and then climbed up a couple trees and shimmed across to other ones to confuse the tracks even more.

He knew taking the direct route to Hibernia would be dangerous. As much as he wanted to keep his path mostly concentrated to the Northwest (he wasn't dumb enough to assume the Halt would stop tracking him after thirty miles because of Daniel's promise; thus Will would have to keep laying false trails), he knew Halt would see and assume the worst. He had announced that he was going to visit Sean right in front of him, anyway.

So Will set his main path for Gorlan, patting the flint and steel in his pocket.

* * *

><p>After Will had gone, Alyss began to cry.<p>

She didn't do it loudly or make a scene, not wanting to disappoint Lady Pauline-crying was _not_ productive. She simply let the tears roll down her cheeks, turning her face away from everyone else in the room. Dabbing or wiping at her eyes would probably attract attention. _I should be thinking about a way to get him back, _she thought, _and contributing to the discussion. I am a diplomat now._

Alyss had no doubt that Will had set off for Clonmel. She had seen his face that morning and knew he was not to be changed in his ways.

Will had told them he would be leaving after the Choosing, but (and Alyss did not know this) he had also not suspected that Halt would publicly accept him. He had thought Halt would have watched him as he had done the first time, but he had forgotten that the first time, he had broadcasted his curiosity on his face. Halt had based his assumption that Will would attempt to get the note solely on his expression. By assuming a different personality the second time around, Will had really messed up the timeline.

Halt had been stunned silent, as Will had planned. _Protecting him…How did he know that I had brought him to Redmont? And Daniel! Surely Arald wouldn't have…_ Halt's mind was whirling as he considered possible scenarios in which Arald might have minutely let something slip…no. The Baron was trustworthy, and if he wad leaked, he would have confessed. Arald had known that Will was not a matter to be tampered with. And the extravagant man was always careful not to get too drunk. Which left Halt with one last thought:

_How did he know?_

* * *

><p>Will wondered if Halt had started after him and thought of his sort-of first impression. His mind had been in what Alyss had formerly dubbed his "Protector Mode", and he'd really gotten into it, even though it was only to make sure they didn't forget about him when he brought back <em>another<em> Hibernian prince and hopefully multiple treaties with other countries. He had been protective of everyone he loved in the first timeline. The "Mode" must have started up when Alyss had had the baby-

Will bit his lip as he backtracked again. As much as going back in time and having a chance to make things even better was fun, he wanted his old life back. He remembered responding to the question about his last name as "Treaty", and his heart ached for his old mentor. He did not belong here.

Will dropped to the ground and rolled into the river in front of him. Hopefully the signs of him falling would confuse his tracker, as he had absolutely nothing to trip on but his own two feet. He sloshed a little downriver (it was shallow) and then began laying another false trail from there, and then he backtracked back to the river and started another path, but he crawled on his hands and knees for this one. Then he climbed up a tree and went to another one. It was tedious work and sometimes the trees that were "connected" to his were small and frail, and they were the only ones going in that direction. Backtracking in the trees was just too confusing. Will would have to walk then.

His mind went back to the thought of Halt coming for him. He winced, remembering his dramatic speech before he had fled Redmont. What had Halt thought of him?

His own thoughts were stilled at the sight of Castle Gorlan.

* * *

><p>"Just some emotions running high," said Baron Arald, "he'll return." But the older man was surprised when Alyss quickly shot down his words,<p>

"He told us he'd be leaving after the Choosing."

"He did," Jenny put in, "Will said something about going to Hibernia and then said he was going to leave! But he didn't think anyone would want him!"

"Please, Lady Pauline," pleaded Alyss, "Send out a search party. He's gone!"

"Halt?" Arald turned to the Ranger. "What do you have to say about this?"

Halt was sure the girl was telling the truth. He'd watched her while she interacted with Will and knew that it would take a lot to have her lose her composure like this. "I'll go after him," he decided, figuring that although Will really had been acting weird that morning, he was just going insane about Choosing Day and had an internal nervous breakdown or something. _And he couldn't have gone far,_ he added. He was sure he would be able to track him.

No one protested that he was just an orphan. Halt obviously cared for the boy.

"Very well," agreed the Baron wearily. "Everyone else is dismissed."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: ARGH, sorry it was so short. The first chap came to me easily and this one was just…ugh.**


	3. AN

Hi. I have no excuse for this.

I know this wasn't the chapter you've been waiting months for, but I have caught a bad case of writer's block. I cannot think of any way to continue my story as of now, so I must put it on hiatus. Thank you for staying with me.

If you still would like to read something about the RA characters going back in time, then check out Crazy909's profile sometime. She will be posting a new story about Will going into the past, so you can check that out.

I'm still not sure when I'll be able to update, but (unfortunately) it won't be anytime again.

Happy New Year.

~WhisperedSilver


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